(Update with full report)
HELSINKI (AFX) - Helsinki shares closed higher, led by Neste Oil amid firmer oil prices and TeliaSonera, on news of a stake buy by a private equity fund, brokers said.
At 6.30 pm, the OMX Helsinki 25 closed 0.56 pct higher at 2,622.29 and OMX Helsinki was up 0.38 pct to 8,869.10 on 577 mln eur turnover.
The HEX tech index was 0.23 pct higher at 1,086.20.
TeliaSonera, one of the most active shares, closed up 1.92 pct to 5.30 eur on news that aggressive private equity fund Cevian Capital has bought a 1.6 pct stake in the telecom operator, analysts said.
Cevian told AFX it now wants to talk to management and other owners to discuss its 'view' on the company and said TeliaSonera has 'very good development potential'.
Peer Elisa ended off 0.63 pct to 17.43 eur.
Nokia was little changed, down 0.26 pct to 15.39 eur.
The European Commission said today the deadline for its inquiry into Nokia's and Siemens networks units merger is set for November 13.
Analysts have said they do not see any major competition concerns impeding the merger, particularly as Nokia Siemens, when formed, will still be smaller than Ericsson.
In other news, Nokia and Siemens are understood to be competing with Ericsson for a large networks contract in India with BSNL, whose decision is expected soon.
The rest of the leaderboard closed mostly in positive terrain, with Neste Oil --up 1.85 pct to 22.60 eur-- Rautaruukki K --up 2.26 pct to 23.50 eur-- and Fortum --up 0.63 pct to 20.62 eur-- among the advancers.
Fortum has acquired a 12.5 pct stake in Russian utility Petersburg Generating Company (PGC), Taloussanomat reported, citing Russian daily Vedomosti.
The purchase, made via ABN Amro in an auction on Saturday, takes Fortum's holding in PGC to almost 47 pct.
Nokian Tyres, down 1.38 pct to 15.01 eur, underperformed though as investors took profits from strong gains on Friday, dealers said.
UPM-Kymmene meanwhile was little changed -- 0.16 pct higher at 18.60 eur after saying it will book an impairment charge of 115 mln eur in its third quarter accounts in relation to its production facilities at a Canadian mill.
M-real B added 0.73 pct to 4.15 eur.
Among industrials, Kone was up 0.74 pct to 38.25 eur after confirming plans to shift its production from Texas to Mexico, while Outokumpu was 3.16 pct firmer at 21.90 eur and Wartsila B 1.16 pct higher at 33.03 eur.
Metso closed 0.72 pct firmer at 29.48 eur after Standard & Poor's said it has raised its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on Metso OYJ to 'BBB-/A-3', from the previous 'speculative grade', with a stable outlook.
Among the banks, Sampo A closed up 0.65 pct at 16.96 eur, OKO A 2.14 pct higher at 13.35 eur , while Nordea ended 0.56 pct lower at 10.56 eur. azer.sawiris@afxnews.com afs/rar COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
